No more pretending
by Marie Arlang
Summary: "Do you know of what I think now? Do you know of what I think to prove to you that I care about you more than I should ?" Right after The Hunt.


**Hi Guys! So...This is my very first story in English (I'm French).It's a DickxBabs Fiction, during The Hunt and right after. **

**Special thanks to ** ** .14**** who help me with my English!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Young Justice or anything famous.**

* * *

**NO MORE PRETENDING**

**│WARWORLD**

**│May 30, 04:06 UTC**

The team had been captured, it was a fact. But even if they were... frozen, their spirits were still conscious. And Barbara's did not allow her any rest. She asked herself so many questions, without having any answers. How did they get there? Why had no one been able to see that Jaime had passed into the enemy's camp? And where was Dick? Why hasn't he come to find them yet? Is he looking for them at least? Is he searching for her?

She was alone with her questions, imprisoned in her own head. And that was the worst prison of all. The young woman had to be alone with all her problems, her fears and her sadness. Everything was locked into her skull, each of her muscles were frozen. She didn't know how long they were all imprisoned, but it seemed to her like several days, maybe even weeks. But it was not possible that Dick, her Dick Grayson, has left them in the hands of the Reach for so long. Absolutely impossible. He'll find a way to save them, he always did.

Barbara's thoughts went to the moment when she and the team had been trapped. The fight had turned bad quickly and nobody had been able to stop Blue. Suddenly, she was jolted from her thoughts and the redhead felt her knees striking the hard ground, painfully. She tried to open her mouth, but nothing came out of her throat. Her lips were dry, and her eyes barely remained open for more than a few seconds. Her sight was...she couldn't see anything very well, and she could not even move her body without an insupportable pain transpiring.

Her head began to turn, and when Barbara felt the ground getting dangerously close, somebody caught her and put her on her feet whilst supporting her. The young Gordon saw dark hair, and just as she was about to murmur "Dick", she saw the face of her rescuer. A child's face. A face which was certainly not the one of her best friend. Suddenly, she felt her strength abandoning her and her legs were not able to support her body anymore.

"Hey, slowly you." The boy caught her with great difficulty with his weak arms. "It is not really the moment to let go. We have a long way before getting you, you and your friends, out of here." Barbara was not able to answer him and contented with keeping her head in the direction of the ground. Next to her, the girl saw her teammates being supported by other kids. But there was no Dick. He had not come. He would never come.

"Ok, get ready!" a voice announced, a voice which she knew well. Roy. "There is a squad of Reach soldiers waiting for us."

She expected something, everything. Shouts, explosions, punches. But nothing came. There was only a heavy silence.

Then two silhouettes took shape in front of them. A big, muscular one. And another one, smaller, more slim, looking utterly ridiculous next to the first one. Heaps of bodies were on the ground.

"Hey fearless leader, better late than never." Roy greeted him.

"Everybody is safe?" The quiet and composed voice of Nightwing asked.

"For now." The archer answered as if there weren't an unconscious team just behind him.

"And the crystal key?" The former Boy Wonder continued, doing everything to avoid looking at the limp body of his best friend.

"Gone," the red-haired archer replied as noises of fights started up behind them. "And we better get 'gone' to before one of them declares a winner."

"Right, move out. "

Barbara felt her saviour literally drag her on for several meters, her feet rubbing hard on the ground. She felt weak, useless in this state. And she hated this feeling. The breathing of her rescuer became harder and harder, a sign that he was beginning to get tired.

"All on board, we're almost all free." The calm voice of M'Gann announced.

The young Gordon felt slightly better and could finally manage movement without being in agony. Then, the young woman felt her back meet a cold surface and she looked around her. Her rescuer had just left her and to make sure that she didn't fall over, had used the outside of the BioShip for support.

"I am going to have to leave you here," The boy declared with a smile, "I have to join my friends. Can you continue alone?"

"Yes, I will be ok. Thank you for everything." Barbara answered slowly, returning him his smile with a weaker version.

He left immediately with his own teammates. Batgirl went into the BioShip with her own partners, all in the same state as her. Without further delay, she sat down on one of the multiple seats of M'Gann's Bioship, and closed her eyes since her atrocious headache didn't want to disappear. After a few minutes, shouts suddenly rang out a few meters away.

"...talking!" The voice of Karen exclaimed. "The last...remembers... opening...! Almost... killed... guaranteed our capture!

"Hey! After eight years...no way...again!" Roy retorted. "And in this case... my escape...not there!"

"You're right, Arsenal, thank you." Nightwing intervened, always so quiet, "And... Earth off the team."

"Wait one minute!" A voice exclaimed.

"Without him nobody would be saved today!" The voice of another kid added.

"That may be," Nightwing answered, "but this isn't the first time he... of blow, putting...in danger life...own agenda...demons. It's unacceptable. So… team player... no place on this team. Now let's get on board and get out of here, we...of this when...behind enemy lines."

There was a moment of heavy silence. Barbara noticed the look on Tim's face, which seemed to be one of immense concentration.

"Sounds like there's nothing left to discuss." A voice said. Her saviour.

"See, we don't need your help getting back to Earth, or your offer to join the team. We have our own way of doing things."

Then there was only what seemed to her like whispers for a few seconds, or minutes, before Nightwing roared.

"Wait! Is that a..."

Then nothing more. There was no more voices. Barbara began to worry while M'Gann and Conner took a look outside of the Bioship. Then, Dick appeared, followed by Karen. They didn't say a word on what had just happened, or where they had left the kids and Roy, and Dick sat down farthest possible from his best friend.

* * *

**│Blüdhaven**

**│May 30, 06:26 EDT**

Barbara looked at Dick who was at the computer. She was standing behind her best friend since the others had left to deal with their own business. They were alone in this big warehouse, but Dick seemed to have the intention to act like she was not there.

"Ok, now, tell me what's wrong." Barbara sighed.

"Everything is fine." Dick said, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the screen. "We have just gotten back the team, everybody is safe and sound. Yeah, everything is fine. Why would I not be fine? I'm fine. Really. More than ever. Yeah, I'm fine. Everybody is safe. Everybody is happy. I'm fine."

Barbara raised an eyebrow, even Dick seemed not at all convinced by his monologue.

"Ok, now I know there's something wrong. Now tell me Dick. I'm your best friend. We don't keep secrets from each other."

_If she only knew..., _Dick thought.

"First, don't say my name, you know that rule very well. And second, I told you before: everything is fine." Dick answered.

"Oh yeah, everything is fine! Of course! You just... You just avoided your best friend since she was saved. And of course, it's not mister Richard Grayson who would come to save her! No! Kids came!"

Dick growled. She knew that she had been rude this time; she knew that her best friend probably did everything and anything to find her. She hoped. She did not recognize him anymore. It was not her Dick in front of her, it was not the kid anymore who has made her laugh even when she was about to cry, it was not the man anymore with whom she fell in love. It was another one, and certainly not her best friend.

"Don't say that," He murmured dangerously. He clenched his fists and got up. "Don't you dare say that again. Don't you dare say I don't care about you! Don't you dare even think about it!"

Now, he didn't care anymore if she used his real name. There was nobody here, they were alone, and he was too angry to pay it any attention. How could his best friend think that he didn't care about her security?

"But I say what I want, Richard!" Barbara yelled. "Don't you understand? When I was trapped, I was like...locked inside my own head! I thought I was going to become crazy! Do you know what it is like to be alone with yourself - your fears, your sadness... your hopes?" Dick didn't say anything. "Do you know who I thought about to not sink into madness? You. You, Richard. I hoped you would come back. I hoped that you would take me out of that... thing. But you know what? You never came back."

She wanted to get out of this crappy warehouse. She needed to get out. Barbara just realized that she almost said to her best friend that she loved him. Almost.

"You say that you care about me, but I don't think so."

She began to walk outside of the place, when a big and warm hand caught her wrist and forced her to turn around. Then, she felt Dick's chest meet her head brutally.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry. This is all my fault and I can't fix that." He murmured against her neck. His breath against her skin made her shiver, and she closed her eyes. "Listen, I know that I should have been there. I know that I should have come earlier. And I know that it should have been me who had to take you out from there. I know I messed up everything, as usual."

She didn't know what to do. She didn't know what to feel. Of course she was still angry, very angry, but a part of her brain -or her heart, she didn't know- said that it was not Dick's fault. He was there to stop Blue, but he had tried everything to find her because she was his best friend. She didn't know what to think anymore. Was she angry because she knew very well that he lied to her about his condition or was she angry because he hadn't saved her or because he avoided her?

"And I know that you hate me for that but I beg you, forgive me. Forgive me this time. Just...Just this time. I need this." Dick continued, whispering the last sentence.

How could he think that she hated him? She didn't hate him!

"I don't hate you, Dick." She said with a small smile.

"You don't hate me?" He asked, confused.

"I don't hate you." Barbara affirmed. "Even if I tried, I couldn't hate you. I think...I think that it's beyond my abilities." She could almost hear him smile. "You're lucky, Boy Wonder. It isn't something everyone can brag about!" She joked.

Dick didn't say anything, he seemed lost in his thoughts.

"Why do you think I have been avoiding you since we came back?" He asked suddenly. He didn't even wait for her answer and continued. "I felt guilty. I asked myself... How was I able to let my best friend, the person who means the most to me, be kidnapped from almost underneath my nose?"

He was close to her. Too close maybe. Too close for just two friends.

"Do you know of what I think now? Do you know of what I think to prove to you that I care about you more than I should ?" He whispered in her ear.

Again, he didn't wait for her answer. Dick took Barbara's face between his hands, and brutally pushed his lips against hers, in a gesture of despair. Barbara opened her eyes, not expecting this at all. She felt Dick's mouth, envious, hurried, desperate, hot. It wasn't one of those soft kisses, loving and chaste to which she was accustomed. No, Dick didn't try to be soft or tender. He was passionate. Then she simply closed her eyes, and was swept away by this whirlwind of feelings which invaded her.

Dick's arms wrapped around her waist, and Barbara's body pressed even more against the one of her best friend. The need for air made the experience only more intense and she felt dizzy, but for nothing in the world she would break this moment. This was the most intense moment of emotion in her life.

When they finally pulled apart, they were both panting. His blue eyes met her blue eyes with so much desire that Barbara blushed.

"Wow...What...What was that, Boy Wonder?" She asked, breathless.

"I wanted to do that for so long, and now...and now I couldn't keep this inside of me longer. I would have lost you without… without having had time to tell you all…. No. I had to do it."

"Dick…-" She tried but he cut her off.

"Babs, for once in your life, stop thinking. Stop thinking about the future and focus on the present." He said. "For once in your life, think about you. For once in your life, think of your own happiness. For once in your life, beselfish. Life is too short. I learnt it that hard way by almost losing you."

Barbara closed her eyes. She couldn't... Why couldn't he understand? They couldn't be together.

"Dick...We can't."

"Why? Because you don't love to me? Stop lying Barbara, I know it, you know it. You feel exactly the same thing as I feel about you. And you cannot hide it."

Of course she had adored kissing him. She had loved it. And if she could, she would kiss him again and again, until there is no more air in her lungs.

"Dick...It's not that..."

"Or perhaps it is because you're afraid of having a serious relationship with your best friend?" Dick tried, furious now.

"It's not that!" Barbara yelled. "Look, it's already difficult enough to know you're in danger while we are only best friends, then imagine as a couple!"

She had told him. She had finally confessed to Dick why she didn't want to be with him. And finally, this was not as difficult as she thought. Dick didn't seem too irritated. He even seemed... amused.

"I'm worried for you. All the time. But it has never prevented me from doing my job properly. And then, think a little Babs." He explained. "It's not because we are a couple that our feelings will suddenly change, as well as the way we are, or work. I already loved you when you joined the team, and even if we become a couple, the fact of knowing you're in danger is not going to change the way I do things. The status of our relationship may change, not the feelings."

"Your right...for once." She teased him.

" That means... " He asked.

" Yes. " Barbara answered, and she kissed him.


End file.
